Thomson

It’s a heck of a way to run a pre-election campaign. On the eve of an expected election, politicians usually spend their time playing up good news, downplaying the bad, shaking hands and kissing babies.

Cookie recipe in Butter Baked Goods one worth remembering

Vancouver bakery releases cookbook of sweet treats

The Homemade You-Know-What cookies from the new cookbook Butter Baked Goods by Rosie Daykin.

Photograph by: Gwendolyn Richards
, Postmedia News

I was home visiting family a couple of years ago when my mom offered me a marshmallow as a snack.

It was no ordinary marshmallow, but a perfect cube of vanilla sweetness and chew. She was addicted to them and had bought several bags of them, including in other flavours, from a little bakery called Butter.

Later, I took a trip to the shop, picking up my own bags of marshmallows, as well as a couple of other treats, including Butter’s gourmet version of an Oreo: a thick and slightly chewy pair of chocolate cookies jammed together with a smooth, vanilla-rich icing.

In the rush of fall release cookbooks, Butter Baked Goods by Rosie Daykin (Appetite by Random House) appeared on my desk and I took a flip through, but it wasn’t until a more thorough reading later that I discovered recipes for marshmallows and realized this book was from the same bakery I had visited.

The book is sweet, not just in the recipes it includes but in the pastel theme and photos of pretty cakes and cookies. The pictures are both appetizing and useful, such as the step-by-step images for the All Butter Pastry and the aforementioned marshmallows.

Daykin also includes an extensive chapter outlining her preferred pantry ingredients, tools and basic methods that are the key to successful baking.

It’s not often that one gets to try out recipes they’ve eaten at restaurants or bakeries, so I was intrigued to give something from this book a shot.

Not the marshmallows, though, because they are just too dangerously delicious to have stashed around the house over a long weekend. Instead, it was going to be the gourmet Oreos.

These are a bit of a project cookie, owing to the fact that it’s a two-step process and the cookies must be cooled before they can be iced. And the dough is plentiful and stiff, so I’m not sure I’d want to take it on without a stand mixer.

There was one hiccup when I wasn’t sure what amount of dough a “medium ice cream scoop” would portion out, so the first tray of cookies baked up to the size of my outstretched hand — far bigger than appropriate for a snack when sandwiched with a second one and filled with icing. I scaled back for the second tray and found they were a much better size.

Deeply dark brown and full of chocolate flavour, the cookies are not overly sweet, balancing well with the rich, vanilla-infused icing.

From what I remember, they tasted just like the one I had in Vancouver all those years ago, which means satisfied cravings without the expensive flight.

And I think that means those marshmallows will have to be the next project.

The Homemade You-Know-What

Since I don’t have a medium ice cream scoop, I used a 1-ounce/2-tablespoon dough scoop. The cookies may be slightly smaller as a result, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering you’re eating two at once jammed together with icing.

Cookies:

3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (180 mL) dark cocoa

1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda

½ tsp (2 mL) salt

¼ tsp (1 mL) baking powder

1 ½ cups (375 mL) butter, room temperature

2 cups (500 mL) granulated sugar, plus extra for the cookie tops

2 large eggs

1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla

Filling:

1 cup (250 mL) butter, room temperature

2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar

1 tbsp (15 mL) pure vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Onto a large piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium to high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat briefly after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and beat again to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again.

Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.

Use a medium ice cream scoop to drop 24 equally sized portions of dough onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) apart. Fill a small bowl with granulated sugar. Press a drinking glass or flat-bottomed mug onto a dough portion to make the bottom of the glass a little sticky with dough. Dip the glass into the bowl of sugar to coat and then press down slightly onto the dough again to transfer the sugar. Repeat for each cookie until they are all topped with sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until the cookies are firm around the edges but still slightly soft in the centre.

Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and icing sugar on medium to high speed until pale in colour. Add the vanilla, increase the speed to high and continue to cream until the filling is light and fluffy.

When the cookies have cooled, turn 12 of them bottom side up. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of filling onto each. Place the remaining cookies on top and press down lightly until the buttercream has spread to the edges of the cookies. Stack them high on a cake plate and holler for your friends and family.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.